550w or 1200W heat blanket?

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miche

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Hi all
I am still researching the Kenovo heat blankets and unnoticed they sell two types. A 550w and a 1200w and I just wondered which would be the best. I am getting the 6 by 36 which I will use for both guitars and ukuleles. I'll just have to make a form that allows the excess blanket to hang over a bench.

Thanks everyone
 
I bought a 6"x24" for $69 on eBay earlier this year.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-x24-600W-...ing-Blanket-/281849203794?hash=item419f858c52

It's 600 watts, @120vac, and reaches 320 deg.F at 1/2 to 3/4 of the wattage; using a dimmer or motor control. I've been told that 600watts is sufficient, and haven't tried 1200 watts.

Most important is having a timer that automatically shuts off; 30 minutes should be enough.

Gotta watch out for charring though, it puts out too much heat and really easy to cook too much. I've charred a set of mahogany sides, and went back to the SM bending iron; which I find to be easier because seeing, feeling, and controlling is visible, right in front of the operator, and not hidden under wraps and sheets.

I'll go back to the fox bender later, when I have more confidence in it. Having too much fun with the bending iron right now. It's only 200 watts.
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Tools_for_Bending_Sides/Bending_Iron.html
 
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I can't afford two just yet it has taken a while to save for one. But I saw a video of a guy use a guitar sized blanket for Ukulele sides so hopefully it will be ok.
 
If your sides are 3 inches wide or less, then you can bend both at the same time on a 6" wide blanket. Mine is an 800 watt blanket and it will get frightfully hot in a short time.

I bend on the pipe and then set the bend with the blanket and form.
 
check which wattage LMI sell- copy them
 
Beau Hannam Ukuleles said:
check which wattage LMI sell- copy them
Click to expand...
Good idea...

Here are LMI's blankets.
For guitar
http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-...r-side-bending-blanket-120v-638-watts/flypage

Smaller for ukulele's...
http://www.lmii.com/products/tools-...e-side-bending-blanket-120v-520-watts/flypage

Folks; not directed to anyone in particular, but heat blankets are and have been discussed multiple times since light bulb shortages -- within our archives.

My old bender, which I still have, uses three light bulbs, 150 watts large bout, 75 watts in waist, and 100 watts in small bout. It worked well, but isn't as hot as my 600 watt blanket, making it somewhat less prone to charring.
 
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Thanks for all of the advice. I did look through several older posts about heating blankets before I asked but there were many different opinions and bits of advice so I thought I would post my question again hoping to get a clearer answer. This will be my first blanket so I wanted to make sure I got the right one as it is expensive and I figured there must be a reason there are different wattages and advantages and disadvantages to both. But I guess the main difference is that one will get hotter quicker then the other and reach higher temperatures. Maybe higher then I would ever need. But I'll go with the 1200w and use a temperature guage as someone said the provided one is not accurate.

Thank you for all of the advice everyone.
 
The LMI blankets are 110 - 120 volt....For the UK you need blankets that run at 220-240 volts....unless you have you have a 240v to 110v transformer.
 
I really hope I don't get hit with customs. Our college tutor suggest a blanket from omega with a temperature controller and theromo coupler but the three things cost over £200 and I thought this blanket would do the job of all three. Omega is the only uk source I have found but I had not considered import charges.
This is getting complicated!lol
I got back to college the first week of Jan and wanted to start bending the sides then. I found some steel for the slats which seemed reasonable.

https://www.materials4me.co.uk/Meta...grit-cold-rolled-0-7mm/p/2777?v=2777x1000x250
 
I did intially consider the bulbs but I read that they were not as good as the heat isn't consistent. Also I know it sounds silly but I wouldn't be confident rigging up the bulbs with controllers etc. I've never even changed a plug fuse. This is all still very new to me and I am kind of learning as I go.
 
Plugging in a bulb is exactly the same procedure as plugging in a heat blanket...one gives off heat and light, the other just gives off heat...you just switch them on and off ..by hand with a thermometer monitoring or automatically with a device.
 
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